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A newborn rhino, born at Blank Park Zoo in the US city of Des Moines, has been taking her first bath.

A look back over last eight years shows that a president really does matter

My how far we’ve come in less than eight years. We have seen happen what those of us in the climate and energy fields knew could happen. The US has become a world leader on climate change, dramatically increased our production of clean and renewable fuels, reduced our emissions of greenhouse gases, signed major international agreements to continue progress into the future, and have done so without cost increases or power disruptions that the denial community proclaimed would occur.

As we in the United States get ready to elect a new president, it is helpful to think about the impact a president can have. Particularly since we transitioned from the worst climate president ever (Bush) to the best (Obama). I am going to detail what I think are Obama’s signature accomplishments.

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Court rules for second time in 18 months that the government is not doing enough to combat the national air pollution crisis

The government’s plan for tackling the UK’s air pollution crisis has been judged illegally poor at the high court, marking the second time in 18 months that ministers have lost in court on the issue.

The defeat is a humiliation for ministers who by law must cut the illegal levels of nitrogen dioxide suffered by dozens of towns and cities in the “shortest possible time”.

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Report also criticises government’s plans and funding and calls for Environment Agency to be stripped of responsibility for flooding

Natural ways of stopping floods, such as tree planting and putting logs in rivers to slow water flow must be a key part of protecting the nation as climate change intensifies rain storms, according to a report from MPs.

The cross-party committee criticised the government for its limited plans and insufficient funding, and called for the Environment Agency to be stripped of its responsibility for flooding and replaced by a dedicated floods authority and a national flood commissioner, as is the case in the Netherlands.

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IPPR study on delivering clean air in the capital comes as the high court is due to rule on the UK government’s air quality plan

Ridding inner London of virtually all diesel vehicles would solve the capital’s air pollution crisis, according to research published as the high court is due to rule on the government’s air quality plan.

Illegal levels of air pollution cause about 9,500 early deaths a year in London and a new report from the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) sets out a series of measures to solve the problem.

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Wenlock Edge, Shropshire Used to control crop pests, this beetle also has a frightening appetite for other ladybirds and the eggs of butterflies

Tricked out in Halloween orange and black, a harlequin moves awkwardly through a micro woodland of moss on the concrete as if it were wandering through an alien world, which in some respects it is. This is Harmonia axyridis succinea, a beetle that began its global travels somewhere in eastern Asia between Kazakhstan and Japan.

Because its larva has an insatiable appetite for aphids and other small insects it was taken to America in the 1980s for the biological control of crop pests. It was so successful that it has been transported into European agriculture, too. To show its appreciation the beetle, called the Halloween ladybug in the US and the harlequin ladybird in Europe, has had a population explosion.

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The first large scale wind farm in Queensland gets financial backing and will begin construction next month.

Environmental credentials of UK Green Investment Bank will be kept intact via special voting powers following likely sale to Macquarie Group.

New report says Australia on track to miss its 2030 emissions reduction target by a "large margin," and that if other countries followed Australia's lead, global warming would exceed 3°C to 4°C.

China may scale down plans for nuclear power because of slowing demand for electricity and construction setbacks.

Toyota’s somewhat baffling unwillingness to embrace all-electric vehicles may finally be coming to an end.

ARENA-backed ANU study to map Australia’s potential for pumped hydro energy storage – a cheap and proven way to integrate large-scale renewables.

BNEF report says offshore wind LCOE has fallen to a benchmark estimate of $126/MWh on the back of auction programs in Netherlands, Denmark.

This week 50 nations have come together to protect an area of ocean twice the size of NSW.

Long Beach quake of 1933 in which up to 120 people died is among several possibly linked with early extraction methods

Several damaging Los Angeles-area earthquakes of the 1920s and 1930s, including the deadliest ever in southern California, may have been brought on by oil production during the region’s drilling boom of that era, US government scientists have reported.

The findings of a possible link between oil extraction and seismic events in the LA basin do not apply to modern industry practices but suggest the natural rate of quake occurrences in the region may be lower than previously calculated, the scientists said.

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Radical plans to overhaul the system of managing flood risk are called for by the Commons environment and rural affairs committee.

A team of scientists at Royal Botanical Gardens Kew embarks on the mammoth task of creating a single database of the world's medicinal plant species.

Strong winds that blew Malcolm Turnbull's South Australia itinerary off course this week provided more than 100% of the state's electricity needs for much of the day.

A mothballed uranium mine in north Queensland is at the centre of environmental contamination concerns.

One of the world's biggest telescope projects might be forced to move its location to a different continent.